The Shadow of The Sun
by Navi Fairy
Summary: Description: Their language said that wolves were the closest things to the gods. Honestly, I hoped they were right. I wanted to be as close as I could to her. OCxAmaterasu. Rated for future blood, language, and themes.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Okami does not belong to me.

Author's note: OK, this fanfiction was REALLY hard to write, because it was written in not only in first-person, but in dude-first-person. I'm a chick. Either way, I love Okami, and this fic is my way of proving that. By the way, this is not my first fanfiction, but it's the first one I've felt confident about posting.

--

The life of a lone wolf was simple. Wake up, kill something to eat, go to sleep. It was an easy enough pattern to follow, but it got boring after a while. I mean, sure, I had a basically endless supply of fish, but nothing to do. I just wandered around all day. My highlight was talking to that kid's dog, Jin, though he preferred to be called Ume.

"What's up?" I asked him one night, waltzing up to him as he laid outside of the child's house.

"Kokari needs to start listening to his dad and acting like the man he needs to be," he groaned. "He's so scared of adventure."

"Whoa, man, when I asked 'What's up,' I expect a 'Nothing much,'" I grinned as I laid down next to him. "Maybe you should show him what adventure's like. Then maybe he'll look for it more."

Ume sighed and laid his head down on his paws. "Maybe you're right. But how can I do that?"

"Maybe you could go sniff out the key to those freaky ruins," I joked. I didn't think I'd be taken seriously, though.

"That's a really good idea!" Ume barked. Unfortunately, he barked a little too loud. Kokari rushed out of his house with a lamp.

"Ume, get away from that monster!" the child screamed, waving the lantern in my face.

"Sorry..." Ume growled, jumping up and putting on an act for his master. But it wasn't like I wasn't used to it. I pretended to be afraid of him and escaped into the darkness. It wasn't too hard to hide, since I had fur as black as a starless night. I ran behind a tree and listened until I couldn't hear their voices any more. Then I slunk off to the cave behind the waterfall under the beautiful sakura tree.

That was the last time I spoke with Ume. Within a week, he had disappeared, and I always saw Kokari fishing in the Deep Abyss. Gradually, the animals started disappearing. I tried sniffing him out one day, and my nose led me to the locked Tsuta Ruins. Before I could think of how to get in, though, I heard a loud, monstrous roar. Suddenly the sky turned back, and the trees started wilting away. I saw a black and red fog quickly covering the ground. On instinct, I started running as fast as I could back to the tree. It always smelled sacred and powerful, so I thought it would protect me. As the fog was about to engulf me, I made it right to my tree, where I wouldn't be able to move away from for days.

--

As I paced around in my grove, with no food or water, I began to notice changes. The grass and flowers died, the tree wilted, the water turned murky, and the smell became nearly unbearable. I knew that if I tried to leave the grove, I probably wouldn't make it. I got hungrier and thirstier until I wasn't even able to move.

_Is this how it's going to end?_ I wondered. I mustered up as much strength as I could and limped over behind the tree, laying down in its shadow and closing my eyes.

"I _really_ don't think it's around here..." I heard someone say.

I tried as hard as I could to meld into the shadow so I wouldn't be seen.

"Of _course_ it is, though! I _know_ I smell Sakuya, see?" And then I saw her.

The most beautiful wolf I'd ever seen walked into my grove, staring up at the tree. She had silvery fur as brilliant as the surface of the moon, and unearthly crimson markings. The fur on her shoulders stuck up in the shape of wings, and she walked with such grace that she looked like she was walking on air. Her dark eyes were deep and caring. Her beauty radiated like the heat of the sun. Her only imperfection was the bouncing green bug on top of her ears, the source of the annoying first voice.

"Wow, you were right, Ammy!" he said. Suddenly, the white wolf dipped her brush-like tail in an ink pot and swiftly drew a circle with it in midair, the scariest thing was, the ink stayed suspended in the air, as if there was an invisible piece of parchment between her and I. It grew until it encircled the tree. Then the most miraculous thing happened: it bloomed! I was able to see down the tunnel, and I saw the water become clear again. The fog dissipated and the trees and flowers started sprouting up again. A pair of rabbits hopped into the grove and stared hungrily up at the wolf.

"Are you little guys hungry?" she asked in a soft bark. She smiled down at them and pulled out a bag of herbs. They dug in gratefully, and I started to wonder if she had any meat on her.

"Hey, Ammy, look over here!" said the little green bug. He hopped off of the wolf's head and over to something shiny laying in front of the tree. "It's another divine instrument! Do you know how to use rosaries?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." the wolf sighed. She picked up the rosary in her mouth and threw it over her neck. It grew bigger until it was floating around her body. She jumped into a fighting stance, and then the beads turned into a whip when she slashed her head. The whip sliced down the flower she was staring at. I couldn't breathe for ten seconds.

"No need to sass!" the bug said angrily. He hopped onto her head and nestled comfortably between her ears. "Come on, let's go! We've got lots to do!"

The wolf started walking out of the grove, so I thought it would be safe for me to try to stand up. I tried to silently rise to my feet, but I was so weak that I feel back down again with a grunt. The white wolf's ears stuck up, and I froze. She spun around in a millisecond and assumed a hostile position, her ears back, and growled with such ferocity that I wanted to roll on my back and put my tail between my legs, but I was too scared to.

She lunged at me, fangs bared, and I used all of my strength to push myself off the tree and out of the way. I hit the rock-hard wall of the grove with a thud, but the adrenalin rush got me up on my feet again. This chick wanted to pick a fight with me!_ Well, if it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get!_ I thought. I bared my fangs and put my ears back, but I didn't growl. I didn't know if she wanted to accuse me of being a monster or if she was going to use her magic beads to end it in an instant.

My second guess seemed to be correct. The gigantic beads turned into an electrified whip and shot out at my legs. I jumped out of the way just in time, but the whip came right back at me like a boomerang and hit me in the ribcage. I fell to the ground, panting, all my energy spent.

"Whoa, Ammy, calm down!" the bug ordered.

"Your fur, so ink black..." she growled, ignoring the bugs orders. "Are you some kind of monster?"

"No, only another animal of this land the two-legged ones call Nippon!" I barked back defiantly. I was sick and tired of everyone calling me a monster all the time!

The white wolf stopped growling and looked at me with pity and confusion, her dark eyes shining in the little light of the grove. The color of the outside light made me realize it was morning, and the sun was shining. But how did the sky turn blue again, as well as the tree blooming and the water clearing? The magic beads and crimson markings that were obviously not blood were all a mystery to me, and I was determined to find out what was going on. But before I could speak again, she was asking me another question.

"Then what are you doing here? This is the sacred Guardian Sapling of Agata Forest," she barked.

"It's my home," I explained, still out of breath. "It felt like it would protect me."

"You are wise," the wolf smiled.

"Ammy, let's go!" the bug shouted. "We have lots to do here!"

"You look hungry. Here," The wolf dropped a couple of bags of meat before running off.

The smell of the meat got me up off my feet. I practically inhaled the meat, then ran out and guzzled water until I was completely full. _That was so nice of her..._ I thought, and then I remembered how strange she was. I started sniffing out her trail, intent on revealing her secrets.

--

A/N: That's the first chapter. If people like it, I'll write more.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: OK so this took a little more time since I had to start a new file to do some "research," but I think it paid off. I'll let you guys be the judge of that! Thanks so much for reading my story!

I began questioning why I was following her in the first place.

To try discovering her secrets, I sniffed out her trail. I followed her, melding with the shadows, always keeping her in my sight. The first thing I realized: she was the toughest girl in the world to track down. First, she kept on jumping into and out of the deep abyss. Do you know how hard it is to track something through water? It's nearly impossible! Then, her trail led me into the Tsuta Ruins. The Tsuta Ruins! Was she insane?! There was a reason for them being locked, you know!

I followed her as fast as I possibly could, keeping to her trail while staying in the shadows. Throughout the ruins I kept seeing really odd signs, like mushrooms the size of trees, giant clovers growing in odd places, lily pads large enough to hold my weight out of the water, and holes in rock walls that looked like they had exploded.

Finally I caught up to her. She had just walked through a door. I waited ten seconds before following, but then, JUST then, that stupid little bug sneezed!!

The floor started collapsing. Acting on instinct, i used all of my strength to leap from the falling remains of the bridge towards the center of the room. I was surprised at the power the jump gave me when I landed on top of the enormous statue from the center of the first room.

I sighed. _Stuck again._ I paced around the bump on top of the statue and weighed my options. Option A: Jump off the statue and try to land on the grass, possibly breaking every bone in my body. Option B: Jump off the statue into the smelly purple water. Option C: Pace around up here and think of more options.

So far I was leaning towards Option B. I leaned over the edge and accidentally kicked a pebble off the side. I waited five seconds, then watched the pebble disintegrate completely as it hit the water.

"Okay, so Option B is scrapped..." I mumbled. I continued pacing around, trying to think of ideas.

The minutes passed. My stomach began to growl, and I realized that I really hadn't eaten much since the fog invaded Agata Forest. I slumped down by the lump on top of the statue and sighed deeply. And then again. Something smelled funny. I sniffed the air around me, and then down by the crease where the hemisphere met the head of the statue. There was a crack all along the crease, and an evil air flowed out of the crack and into my nose. Not only that, but also an extremely faint cainine scent I couldn't put my paw on.

_What if that wolf is in there, with that evil whatever-it-is?_ I worried. Without thinking, I used all of my strength to lift up the rock (which, by the way, was _much_ heavier than I'd expected) and slipped into the hole below. But only later would I learn that, as soon as I did, the water turned pure again and the white wolf came tumbling over the waterfall.

--

I laid there, panting, waiting for my breath to come back. The rock covered the hole again, so I was trapped. _No turning back now,_ I thought. I walked slowly down the long hallway faintly lit by a row of candles, creeped out by the many skulls and spiderwebs lining the walls. The hallway led to a staircase in the middle of an empty room, save a few more skulls and some massive spiderwebs.

"What monster could have possibly made those?" I wondered aloud in frightened awe.

"It's you again!" a shocked, familiar bark rang out from behind me. I spun around to see the lovely white wolf behind me. This time, instead of beads floating around her, she had a flaming green stone disk floating just above her back.

"What are you doing here?" we demanded in unison, her's a growl, mine an elated yip.

"Hey, Ammy, is that...?' the bug wondered aloud.

"Yes, it's the wolf from before," the wolf growled, "but he lied. He _must_ be a monster!"

"I told you, I am not a monster!" I roared back, enraged and irritated.

"Exactly what a monster _would_ say!" the bug shouted back, actively hopping up and down.

I rolled my eyes at the little bug's idiotic comment, but in that instant I was tackled and pinned to the ground by the she-wolf. She tore at my muzzle with her razor-sharp fangs, so I kicked her in the gut with my hind legs and she flew over me and into the stairs. While she was stunned, I quickly started bounding up the stairs. In almost no time she had caught up to me and bit my tail. She stopped, and that pulled me down with her. My chin hit the top step and I bit my tongue, which REALLY hurt!

"Owth!" I yelped, my tongue hanging out of my mouth. "Thtop that! I am NOT a monthter!"

"Prove it!" she growled, my tail still in her mouth.

"Do I _smell_ like a monster?" I sassed, dealing with my throbbing tongue. She froze and released my tail, and I saw this as a chance to run away. Hell, she was frickin' insane! And she was so freakishly strong, she'd probably kill me if she got another chance to! I ran towards my only exit: the dark opening in front of me.

"Wait!" she barked. All of a sudden, my eyes were covered in ink. I didn't stop running, though, so I ended up bashing my face into the wall, biting my tongue _again_! I stumbled forward, and then my paws weren't hitting the ground.

I had just walked off a cliff.

I panicked. The world was black. My face and tail stung. I couldn't feel anything solid. I just kept falling and falling and I didn't know what to do.

I felt a tug on my neck, and three seconds later I hit the ground. It was oddly soft...

"Ugh..." the wolf moaned from underneath me. Shocked, I crawled off of her as fast as I could. I heard her get up and shake. Then I felt her tongue on my face, trying to lick off the ink.

"I can get it off myself," I barked. I lifted my paw to my face and tried in vain to wipe the ink from my eyes.

"Well, excuse me!" the wolf sassed.

"I think you should be a little nicer to her, considering she just saved your butt!" It was the bug's voice speaking now.

"Yeah, after putting it in danger in the first place!" I retorted.

"I told you to stop..." she grunted.

"You tried to kill me! What else was I supposed to do?" I squinted, hoping I'd wiped away enough ink to see even a little. All I saw was a white blob with a dot of green on top, streaks of red here and there. The red made me remember why I'd followed her in the first place.

"What are you...?" I barked softly, in what men would call a whisper. My voice rose as I spoke. "You made the tree bloom, and made the fog go away. The red on your fur is natural. Your scent is like an animal's, but also not. It's almost like... like your scent is combined with a smoldering fire. If one of us is a monster, I think it'd be you!"

The wolf was speechless. I rubbed my eyes again, as if it would help me see the truth. Before she could even begin to answer me, though, I heard the bug gasp.

"Ammy, look!" I opened my eyes and followed the sound of the insect's voice. I could see a bit clearer now, but everything was still kind of fuzzy and dark (I learned later, though, that the ink was gradually disappearing on its own). What I _could_ see was the blurry outline of a massive pink flower, a green dot on top.

"Check out this big ol' flower. We just might've stumbled onto something here! Flowers like this are usually just packed with treasure! ...Hey, is that a dog down there?" the green dot said.

"Ume?!" I barked. As soon as I did, the flower began rumbling.

"I think you woke the freaky flower up..." the white wolf mumbled.

"Oops... Sorry, freaky flower!" I called out to it, hoping that would calm it down.

Unfortunately, it didn't. The flower started rising up, and time seemed to slow down. I saw the silver-coated she-wolf run faster than any living being I'd ever seen, jump six feet into the air, land on a flower petal, grab the green bug delicately in her mouth, and jump off the flower before it snapped shut. It appeared to have eight snakelike heads, and one of them shot an ominous purple ball of fire towards her while she was in the air, but she backfliped out of the way, only her tail brushing against it. She landed on the ground and growled ferociously at the flower. The moment seemed to last forever, but it only happened in a few seconds.

"Hey, dog-breath! Let me go! I'm all covered with your slobber again!" the bug shouted. It looked at the flower, which was still rising. "Check out that shadow! I see eight- wait, it couldn't be...!?" It dismissed the thought, like he wished it weren't true.

"More dogs sniffing about?" an eerie, deep, female voice rasped. It gave me chills. "I will not allow you to ruin my master's triumphant return!"

The figure flew into the air and spun around. The snakelike neck turned out to be one of eight limbs, the flower looking more like the back end of the gigantic spider in front of me. Her long, stringy black hair was held loosely in a white headband, and footlong fangs protruded from an eyeless face. The wolf beside me only yawned as I tried to hide the fear on my face.

"Sticking your nose where it does not belong will get you killed," she continued. "Speak your last words, fool!" She crept forward, towering over the both of us. The wolf just grinned a flawless, wolfish grin.

"How tough could you honestly be if your true form is a big pink flower, oh Spider Queen?" she chuckled.

The Spider Queen reeled back at her remark. "How dare you! Dog is not usually on my menu, but I shall make you an exception!" She made an odd screeching noise as she spoke.

"But the beetle here just told us he found Ume inside of you!" I retorted as bravely as I could.

"Yeah, I saw that- Wait a minute, who are you calling a bug?!" The bouncing green bug jumped off the wolf's head and- I'm not quite sure, but it felt like he bit me. I ignored him, my full attention on the menacing Spider Queen about to devour me. Then the bug seemed to remember something; "Besides, ya stinky spider, this ain't no dog! This here is a god!"

"A god...?" I whispered.

"Well now! The insect speaks!" the Spider Queen said in awe. "Very well, then! I shall send you back to where you came from! This shall not hurt a bit. Stand still for just a moment..."

"Hey, Snowflake, you're a god??" I asked. I hadn't heard a word the Spider Queen had just said. I was only interested in the white wolf's mystery.

"Fight now, talk later!" the white wolf snarled, not at me, but at the spider. The Spider Queen opened her mouth wide and shot a mass of huge, sticky white threads straight at me.

--

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long to post. I've had a lot of tests and homework, and then I found inspiration for another one of my stories, and you know how _that_ is; when you find inspiration, you have to use it before it disappears. But during the past week, with the little homework I've had, I


End file.
